The Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Yatra 2016 will be held today (February 21) at 2 pm and will be expressing its solidarity with other movements across the country that are fighting against oppression and violence, including that of JNU students and Rohith Vemula. The march will begin at Krishna Kant Park, Jawahar Nagar.
The Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Pride is an initiative of individuals and civil society groups who are working to reclaim the self-respect that is continually under assault by the cultures of silence, invisibilisation, prejudice and violence. Through this march, the LGBT community hopes to draw attention to their collective struggle to survive in a society that shuns difference, stifles free expression and violently rejects the existence of sexualities and genders that differ from the norm.
In a press statement, the organisers said, “This Swabhimana Yatra will acknowledge the struggle that is being waged in the Parliament in the Right of Transgender Persons Bill and The Supreme Court in litigating against Section 377 of IPC. In our collective celebration of existence and resistance, we will also express solidarity with the movements across the nation that are fighting against oppression and violence. While we walk for our own community and raise our voice against the violence that is being meted out on us, especially our hijra sisters, we also stand with JNU, with Rohith, and numerous other individuals who have been victims of this opressive society and state. We stand with Anushka, our Hijra sister, whose murderers are still at large. We stand with several authors, artists and intellectuals who have been murdered or arrested for dissenting to the State or its oppressive machinery. We stand in acknowledgement of the fact that we as Queer community also perpetrate oppression amongst us, and that we need to recognize and fight those prejudices.”
You can find the more details of the event on Facebookhere.